Stress‐and‐Sense Investigation of Memory Effect in Si‐NCs MIS Structures

Abstract

Silicon nanocrystals have been recently investigated for potential applications in modern silicon optoelectronics and photonics. In this work, co‐doped silicon nanocrystals embedded in hafnium oxide thin films have been introduced to metal–insulator–semiconductor (MIS) structures. The fabricated test devices are investigated for the nanocrystals charging effect and the charge retention properties parametrized by flat‐band voltage shift. Electrical measurements including the stress‐and‐sense procedure are carried out. The effect of bias parameters on memory effect is discussed in terms of device capacitance, flat‐band voltage shift, and retention time. The reported retention of flat‐band voltage values extrapolated to 10 years seems to be promising for future applications in memory devices.